The present invention relates to a pressure shoe with a press surface for directly pressing finishing tape onto a radial circumferential surface of a rotating workpiece section during a finishing process, wherein a plurality of expansion elements, which can be filled with fluid in particular, are formed in the pressure shoe.
A pressure shoe with the previously mentioned features is known from EP 0 802 017 A1, wherein the pressure shoe is provided for processing a circumferential surface of the workpiece section located between collar surfaces. So that the finishing tape located between pressure shoe and workpiece bears against the rounded transitions between circumferential surface and lateral collar surfaces at any time during the relative axial movement between pressure shoe and workpiece, two expansion chambers, which are to be understood as expansion elements are suggested in the region of the transitions at the pressure shoe. The two expansion chambers are loaded with a fluid via a common line during the finishing process. During the finishing process, the fluid flows back and forth between the two expansion chambers owing to the driven relative axial movement between pressure shoe and workpiece, so that the expansion chambers expand in an oscillating manner. Consequently, it is ensured that the finishing tape bears in the transition regions between circumferential surface and collar surfaces and at the collar surfaces. Targeted influencing of the shape of the collar surface or the transition regions between collar surfaces and the circumferential surface is not intended in this case.
There is the desire that during the finishing process, it be possible to influence the shape of the radial circumferential surface of the workpiece section to be processed in a targeted manner, with regards to the crowning and/or non-roundness in particular.
A further pressure shoe is known from WO 2008/113 925 A1, wherein the expansion elements are formed by cylinders, using which, by means of a piston located in the respective cylinder, one pressure element in each case can be loaded in a targeted manner with pressure in the direction of the circumferential surface. As the piston/cylinder units are arranged one behind the other in the circumferential direction, only the targeted creation or removal of non-roundness of a circumferential surface of the workpiece is possible using such a pressure shoe.
In addition, a pressure device is known from DE 196 50 155 C1, in which a pressing device formed as a shell is pivotably mounted. The shell can be pivoted as a function of a measured diameter by means of a piston, as a result of which the shell presses the finishing tape more strongly onto the workpiece on one side of the pivot axis of the shell than on the side opposite the pivot axis, so that the conicity of the workpiece surface is influenced in a targeted manner.